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Ph.D. Comprehensive ExaminationGlobal Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
Stephen Sills
Department of Sociology
Arizona State University
9/28/2002 8:32 AMto
9/30/2002 3:37 AM
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
Toward a Unified Definition of Globalization
The term “globalization” is used frequently these days, often in ill-defined ways. Drawing on readings
from the core list that you think are relevant, develop a careful definition of the term “globalization”.
Then describe how you see it applying to economic, political, and cultural processes in the world today.
Be sure to address all three of these types of processes clearly in your answer.
Globalization is a contested1 and amorphous concept used in both academic and popular
writings. As a result of its conceptual vagueness, definitions of globalization abound.
Moreover, each academic discipline tends to focus on separate characteristics and facets
of globalization ranging from:
• Global movements of capital, cross-cultural trade and transnational corporations
(Economics)
• Homogenization of global consumer culture, mass media, and popular culture(Cultural Studies)
• Internationalization of nation-states, international human-rights discourse, andINGOs (Political Science, International Relations)
• Time-space compression and deterritorialization (Geography)
• Culture, identity and the condition of Modernity (Sociology, Anthropology) 2
Because of their flexible nature, Appadurai’s (1990) five dimensions of global cultural
flow ( Ethnoscapes, Technoscapes, Financescapes, Mediascapes and Ideoscapes)3 may be
useful in understanding these separate perspectives on globalization and helpful in
developing a definition that embraces all of its dimensions. In this essay, I will focus
specifically on three of these dimensions – Financescapes, Ethnoscapes and Ideoscapes –
1 “The current buzz-word to describe the contemporary situation is ‘globalization’. Personally, I think it is
meaningless as an analytic concept and serves primarily as a term of political exhortation (see Wallerstein
2000). It represents however an insistence, which seems to have resonance with both intellectuals and the
general public, that something very new is happening these days. This fits in with the syndrome of ‘post’-concepts.” Immanuel Wallerstein. From sociology to historical social science: prospects and obstacles.British Journal of Sociology, Volume 51, Number 1 (January 1, 2000), pp. 25-35. See also Hirst and
Thompson (1999). Globalization in Question: The International Economy and the Possibilities of Governance, Polity Press.
2 Based upon handout and colloquium presentation by Jan Nederveen Pieterse Globalization and
governance Arizona State University, Tempe, 2000
3 Giddens (1990) lists four dimensions that are somewhat distinct from those of Appadurai: Nation-State
System (akin to ideoscapes), World Military Order (absent from Appadurai); International Division of
Labour (subsumed under Appadurai’s financescapes and somewhat under ethnoscapes); and World
Capitalist Economy (financescapes and technoscapes).
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and their relations to economic, cultural and political globalism. Throughout this treatise,
I will examine the definitions of globalization found in the literature then develop a
definition that will provide a synthesis of current usage. Finally, I will apply that
generalized definition to the processes of globalization today.
Economic Globalism & Financescapes
Many definitions of globalization refer exclusively to an economic process that began
with international market capitalism sometime in the 16th century (Robertson 1992;
Wallerstein 1974) expanded and intensified in the later half of the 19th
century (Harvey
1989; Hobsbawm 1975) and resulted in the worldwide “economic revolution” of the late
20th century (Greider 1997; Sassen 2001). Economic globalism has been characterized by
instantaneous and perpetual flows of capital across borders and the rapid industrialization
of developing countries (Greider 1997). It has brought about the existence of a world
economy with “a single division of labor and multiple cultural systems” (Wallerstein
1974, 390).4 Economic globalism has likewise seen the creation of a web of global cities
or denationalized centers where the production and coordination of global resources
occur (Sassen 2001). Appadurai’s concept of the financescape, or “the very complex
fiscal and investment flows” that link cities in a “global grid of currency speculation and
capital transfer,” embraces these separate aspects of economic globalism (8). Moreover,
Appadurai emphasizes that while “deeply disjunctive and profoundly unpredictable” a
financescape influences and is influenced by the cultural and political aspects of
globalization (9).
4 Although Wallerstein does not use the term globalization, his depiction of a world economy can be seenas synonymous.
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
Cultural Globalism & Ethnoscapes
While the relation of globalization to global capitalism is decidedly important, the term
today refers to something more than features of the modern world economy. To many
authors the web of social linkages, which result from global markets, technological
advancements, and mobility of capital, products and peoples5, is the novel feature that
makes the global systems of today unique from those in history. For example, Tomlinson
(1999) sees globalization as a complex connectivity which he defines as the “rapidly
developing and ever-densening network of interconnections and interdependences that
characterize modern social life” (2). In the same way, Giddens (1990) sees globalization
as a network of social ties. Moreover globalization is for him a “dialectical process,”
which he defines as the “intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant
localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles
away and vice versa” (181). This dialectical process may result in what Barber (1995)
describes as the paradoxical concepts of tribalism (an intensification of local ethnic
culture and anti-globalization he refers to as Jihad ) and globalism (expansionistic hyper-
consumerism he calls McWorld ) which occur simultaneously within an increasingly
interconnected world.6 Likewise these opposing forces may be observed as well in
Appadurai (1990) as "global homogenization" and "heterogenization" that work in a
dialectical process creating paradoxes and disjuncture (5-6).7
5 Explained both under Financescapes and Technoscapes by Appurundai.
6 A recent example of this phenomenon would be the creation of redesigned bistro-style McDonald’s for
the anti-American French market. See Shirley Leung “McHaute Cuisine: Armchairs, TVs And Espresso --
Is It McDonald's? --- Burger Giant's Makeover In France Boosts Sales; Big Change for Fast Food --- Some
Franchisees Have a Beef” Wall Street Journal; New York, N.Y.; Aug 30, 2002
7 As an example, he use the internationalization of local culture that results in fetishes for the popular
culture of others such as popular American music in the Philippines and Hong-Kong martial arts movies inthe US.
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Importantly, Giddens’ definition of globalization recognizes a new geography that
results from global linkages. Like David Harvey (1990), Giddens specifically refers to the
transformation in the concepts of space and time that occur as a result of these worldwide
social ties.8 Robertson (1992) also recognizes the spatial-temporal change that has
occurred in globalization process as he explains that it “refers both to the compression of
the world and to the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole" (8).
This definition acknowledges that individuals not only experience the effects of
globalization, but are cognizant of their place in a global community. Appadurai labels
the dimension of global culture that deals with the interconnectivity of individuals as
ehtnoscape, defining it as “the landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world in
which we live: tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guest workers…” (7). His definition
too recognizes the role of individuals and groups of individuals (communities, kinship
groups, friendships, etc.) in creating the global linkages that may carry local culture to
paradoxical global scales.
Political Globalism & Ideoscapes
Political globalism is also both a result and cause of globalization. A major component of
political globalism within this body of literature has to do with the debate over what
constitutes a global actor. While some authors focus on the role of the nation-state
(Meyer et al. 1997; Huntington 1993; Giddens 1990; Wallerstein 1974)9 others
concentrate on the position of non-state actors such as INGOs and transnational
corporations in the global arena (Boli & Thomas 1999; Keck & Sikkink 1998; Giddens
8 However, while Giddens sees the change as a stretching of time (events) across space, Harvey sees it as a
compression of space and time that began with the British economic crisis of 1846/7.
9 Sassen (2001) emphasizes the growing international role of the city as disconnected from that of thenation-state. Thus, we might include the global city as a political actor as well.
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
1990). The content of the political discourse between nation-states and non-state actors
alike tends to focus on ideologies of global civil society including democratization,
universal human rights, and the erosion of political boundaries (Boli & Thomas 1999;
Keck & Sikkink 1998; Jacobson 1996).
Giddens (1990) explains that sovereignty of the nation-state developed in
conjunction with a global system of nations. He notes that “the sovereignty of the
modern state was from the first dependent upon the relations between states, in terms of
which each state (in principle if by no means always in practice ) recognised the
autonomy of others within their own borders” (183). The neorealist viewpoint of Meyer
et al. (1997) likewise sees the nation-state as constructed by the global institutionalizing
forces of a world society. Empirical evidence of these forces is found in the fact that
“nation-states exhibit a great deal of isomorphism in their structures and policies,”(151)
as well as the “expansive structuration” of even peripheral nation, regardless of the local
need for such structures (152-153).
Similarly, Boli & Thomas (1999) apply a neorealist view to the construction of
actors noting that “world polity is not reducible to states, transnational corporations
(TNCs), or national forces and interest groups” (13), but may be attributed to an
“overarching world culture” (14) or social structure. In the first chapter of their book,
Boli & Thomas promote the thesis that INGOs are formed by a global culture and are
influential in orienting other international actors (including nation-states) within the
world order. Keck and Sikkink (1998) make a similar argument that NGOs (through
transnational advocacy networks) influence nation-states both directly and indirectly
using “persuasion, socialization, and pressure” to bring about a reorientation of the
political frame (16). The theme of the emerging global frame is one of individual rights
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and responsibilities, democratization of the political process and global
environmentalism.10 Falling within this discourse is the idea of Jacobson (1996) that
transnational migration, resulting from the intensification of global connectedness as
discussed in ethnoscapes, has “eroded the traditional basis of nation-state membership,
namely citizenship” (8). Jacobson maintains that while nation states as sovereign actors
have become less powerful in the global arena, individual rights and the role of the
judiciary have become more powerful. Thus, individuals and collective bodies of legal
authority become additional actors in political globalism.
The concept Appadurai defines as ideoscapes or “the ideologies of states and the
counter-ideologies of movements explicitly oriented to capturing state power or a piece
of it” (9) corresponds with the political dimension of globalization. He explains that
ideoscapes are political in nature and represent images such as “ ‘freedom’, ‘welfare’,
‘rights’, ‘sovereignty’, ‘representation’ and the master-term ‘democracy’”(10). Thus, this
term encompasses nation-states and non-state entities as rational actors at the same time
as recognizing the globalizing principles of the modern world polity.
A Synthesized Definition of Globalization
By creating a universal definition of globalization that acknowledges three of
Appadurai’s key dimensions of global culture ( Financescapes, Ethnoscapes and
Ideoscapes) it may be more broadly applied to current themes of the globalization
process. However, as with all generalizations, some specificity may be lost. Nonetheless,
I propose that globalization may be defined as:
10 Appadurai (1990) points out that these ideologies are “composed of elements of the Enlightenment
worldview” (9) inferring a Western orientation and valuation. Huntington (1993) proposes that these ideals
are decidedly Western and will lead to eventual conflict with non-Western nations as the West attempts toimpose democratization and individualism on cultures that are more collectivistic and authoritarian.
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
The interdependent and overlapping economic, socio-cultural, and
political fields or ‘landscapes,’ that result in a disarticulation of events
from space-time, a paradox of local identities within global contexts,
and a global framework that is both created from and encourages
global expansion of civil society.
The most important aspect of this definition is that these processes are interdependent
and overlapping . Each dimension includes elements of the others and cannot exist
independently.11 This definition clearly contains those of Tomlinson, Robertson, and
Giddens as nested models, while recognizing too the importance of the economic and
political dimensions and the general outcomes of globalism that we recognize as
globalization today. Moreover, this definition acknowledges that these processes occur at
all levels (from the micro to the macro) simultaneously and affect every facet of post-
modern life.
Application to contemporary economic, political, and cultural processes
As this definition is a holistic synthesis that stresses the co-dependence and
interrelatedness of global processes, it would be impossible to illustrate its application in
just one aspect at a time. For example, we may examine that global polity, the ongoing
political process constructed from the ideologies of individualism and democracy, cannot
exist without direct international social ties between: individuals (such as those that meet
at the Davos Forum); groups, organizations, NGOs & INGOs, and advocacy networks
(such as those meeting at countless international conferences); or nation-states (meeting
in forums such as the UN, the EU, the WTO, etc.). Likewise, world polity is dependent
upon the continuation of a worldwide marketplace in which information, services, and
products are produced and exchanged. Equally then, these marketplaces, while often
11 Think perhaps of a Yin-Yang with three complementary elements rather than two.
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existing in a deterritorialized and disarticulated virtual space of instantaneous computer
transactions, must also have physical complements perhaps culturally, linguistically,
temporally, and spatially removed from the actual marketplaces themselves. These
market players, transnational corporations and powerful monopolists12 are maintained by
yet further disarticulated service providers somewhere within the web of interconnected
global cities of Saskia Sassen. Global centers, that came about with the expansion of
international markets and political accords that established the power of nation-states in
the age of industrialization, continue to grow today as individuals and institution become
increasingly mobile and gain more rights and freedoms. Global cities become the
magnets for further immigration, diasporas, displaced refugees and asylums seekers, and
provide the habitus for the continued transnationalization of elites and marginalized
populations alike, resulting in increased contact (and even friction) between ever
disparate local cultures. Simultaneously this cultural contact promotes the consumption
of the fashionable products of McWorld in the developing world and the fetishism of the
exogenous in core nations (Appadurai 1999; 16), creating a new global marketplace of
glocalized products (Robertson 1993; 173). Trends in popular culture such as that of the
modern primitive,13 new age or neo-mystism, neo-paganism, and contemporary
orientalism are simply examples of the “search for the fundamentals” of Robertson
(1993; 165 – 181) and the aesthetic of the “cosmopolitan” of Tomlinson (1999; 181 –
207) brought upon by this increasing contact between cultures. This cosmopolitan nature
of globalization illustrates the role of “the imagination as a social process” as discussed
by Appadurai (1990; 5) in that we may develop a global identity borrowed from the
12 See Barbers (1995) many references to Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and others as
totalitarian rulers of McWorld.13 Also called urban tribalism, neo-tribalism, etc.
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
images we find in the media and our ideation of a global self. Thus, these concepts are
incorporated into my definition of globalization by inclusion of concept of local identities
within global contexts and the clear understanding that the fields of globalization are
intersecting and contingent upon one another.
While I see these often paradoxical processes as generally positive forces leading
to increased individual freedoms and the possibility of pluralistic global cultures,14 global
processes of oppositional cultural forces have created concern for some authors. Barber,
for example, sees the only path to a global civil society leading between possible ethnic
tribalization and conflict or featureless homogeneity of McWorld. He views the current
world polity as one that would attempt to coerce nations into a federalist system, only
resulting in further resistance by anti-global movement. He proposes a solution of
confederalization, resulting in a plethora of coexisting sovereign nation-states held
together by a democratic process (288-292). Samuel P. Huntington (1993), on the other
hand, offers an even more pessimistic view of the future. He maintains that “nation states
will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global
politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations” (22). Moreover,
these conflicts will arise due to basic cultural differences that he sees as immutable and
irresolvable. According to Huntington, an initial political result will be increased
economic regionalization followed by military “interaction” between Western and
Islamic countries, followed by conflict with other non-Western nations of East Asia. In
both cases, whether that of a precarious global pact between confederate nation-states or
eventual armed conflict between ethno-cultural blocs, I believe my definition to be
applicable as the force or mechanism that would create global agreement or
14 Akin to the cultural pluralism or multiculturalism espoused by educators throughout the late 20 th centurywhich touted the celebration of diversity within a single structure or social system.
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fractionalization is the same – the current civil society that promotes formerly Western
ideals of individual freedoms, rights, and global citizenship.
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
Immigrant Acculturation, Incorporation, and Assimilation
The issue of immigrants' adaptation/incorporation/assimilation has concerned scholars for a long time.
Discuss the main frameworks and approaches (past and contemporary) dealing with this issue. Using an
immigrant group of your choice as an example, show how that group's experiences can be interpreted from
the different points of view in this debate
The concept of ethnoscapes offered by Appadurai (1993), and incorporated into the
definition of globalization above, clearly indicates that the world may be characterized by
an ever increasing mobility of individuals and groups. Therefore, as long as the
globalization processes continues, the concepts of assimilation, acculturation and
incorporation will be of growing importance. Traditional assimilation theory of Gordon
(1964; as cited and explained by Faist 2000) starts with acculturation, progresses toward
structural assimilation, or “the entry of immigrants into the primary groups of the
immigration country” (283), and ends with cultural adaptation and absorption into the
dominant culture. Yet, Portes and Rumbaut (1995) point out that “assimilation as the
rapid transformation of immigrants into Americans ‘as everyone else’ has never
happened” (141). They explain that ethnic resilience persists despite the pressure to
assimilate, and ethnic identity as “hyphen American” (Italian-American, Irish-American,
etc.) even has experienced a resurgence among both new and old immigrant groups. This
hybridity of cultural identities has been addressed to some degree by the “search for the
fundamental” (Robertson 1993) and the renewal of ethnic tribalism (Barber 1996), as
well as in the discourse on post colonial identity.15 Hybridity has also been a focal point
of the growing literature on transnationalism and transnational identities (Anthias 2001;
Vertovec 2001; Faist 2000a; Faist 2000b; Forner 1999; Roberts et al. 1999).
15 See especially, Stuart Hall (1994) “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” where he defines cultural identity as
a “‘production’ which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside,
representation” (392). As he explains cultural identity is about “‘becoming’ as well as ‘being’”(394).Moreover, Hall writes on the hybrid cultural identity of the African- European- Caribbean
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
assimilation, while maintenance of cultural identity (and a positive relationship with the
host) simply has the outcome of integration.17 In contrast, a negative relationship with the
dominant culture and the preservation of cultural identity leads to rejection and even
segregation. Finally, Berry proposes a fourth possibility of deculturation, where the
immigrant losses her own cultural identity in addition to having a negative relationship
toward the dominant society. Berry states that this form, while perhaps rare, could
explain marginalization and even ethnocide (12-17).18
Alba and Nee (1997) point out that the distinction between the group level and
individual level of ethnic assimilation and incorporation was unclear in the early
formulations of assimilation theory. Padilla (1980), in the introduction to his volume on
acculturation, clearly indicates that the role of the individual is important in the study of
acculturation as “the individual is crucial in whatever change that occurs through contact
between differing cultural orientations” (2). Likewise, Berry (1980) explains that
“acculturation requires the contact of at least two autonomous cultural groups [italics
mine]; there must also be change in one or more of the two groups which results from
their contact” (10). Berry consequently examines acculturation as a “two-level
phenomenon – that of the group and that of the individual” (11). Waters (1994) and
Portes and Zhou (1993) additionally add a temporal element to the group level as they
witness assimilation occurring over generations.
17 In this way he is much like Gordon who focused on the distinctions between cultural and structuralassimilation.18 While potentially useful, this framework does not account for many of the forms of intergroup relations
as it neglects the nature of exit from the homeland and the intentions of the migrant in the settlement
process. For example, the “middleman minorities” of Bonacich (1973) are not marginalized due to rejection
by the dominant culture, they do not lose their native culture, nor do they really become incorporated into
the host society. For a short time, they fill a unoccupied middle ground within the dominant society. As
their eventual intent is to return to the homeland, these sojourners therefore keep strong ties with co-ethnics
and few ties to the local communities (see page 586). The characteristics of these groups are: resistance to
exogamy, residential self segregation, language and cultural schools, maintenance of culture and religion,avoidance of local politics, and a high degree of organization.
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Berry’s analysis of the assimilation and acculturation patterns of the late 1970s
hits upon one of the flaws of early migration theory that is addressed in the more
contemporary theories of segmented assimilation. In this line, Brubaker (2001) argues
that immigrant groups today do not only assimilate toward a dominate culture, but also to
sub-cultures within a society.
The notion of a universally acknowledged ‘core culture’ has lost all its
plausibility since the late 1960s. This, in turn, has raised the question of
the reference population towards which assimilation is said to occur.Characteristic of the newer literature on assimilation is its willingness to
consider multiple reference populations and correspondingly segmented
forms of assimilation (Portes and Zhou 1993; Waters 1994; Zhou 1997;
Neckerman et al . 1999).
It is no longer true that assimilation (or integration, a term that often, especially in the European context, refers to
much the same thing) is ‘inevitably’ (Brubaker 2001; 540)
Portes and Böröcz (1989) also discuss the problem of early assimilation theory as being
too linear of a process to account for the many outcomes of relations. They explain that
early theories were based entirely on studies of the European migrants and did not
observe those who were not assimilated into mainstream society or migrants who may
have returned to their homelands for various reasons.
There are clearly great differences between past migration flows (pre-1965)
observed by Gordon, those of the late 1970s analyzed by Berry, and the migrations of
today. While obviously more ethnically and culturally diverse, there is also a context of
advanced globalization and a momentum to the movement that allows for a multiplicity
of paradoxical ethnic identities today. Enclaves of first and second wave migrants coexist
in the same geographic spaces with transnational corporate elites and labor migrants.19
Likewise, today’s population movement is a perpetual feature of the international system
19 Take for example Vancouver, BC & San Francisco, CA where vibrant, historic Chinatowns help to
maintain the ethnic identity of early waves of migrants, while also supplying transnational, jet-setting dual
nationals (from Hong Kong and Taiwan particularly) with the cultural accoutrements (media, foods,clothes, jewelry, etc.) of their homeland.
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whereas previous flows were short lived historic events. For this reason “there are likely
to be strong incentives to keep ethnic affiliations alive even for the third generation”
(Alba and Nee 1997 p. 836). The results of the various ethnoscapes of postmodern
migration may be a portrayed best in the concept of transnationalism. Portes (1997)
defines transnationalism “dense networks across political borders created by immigrants
in their quest for economic advancement and social recognition” (812). Portes et al.
(1999) further explain that transnationalism offers yet another, albeit alternative model
for the immigrants where “success does not so much depend on abandoning their culture
and language to embrace those of another society as on preserving their original cultural
endowment, while adapting instrumentally to a second” (229) This definitions of
transnationalism sees adaptation in producing hybrid identities and cultural practices
(Glick-Schiller et al.1995, also Anthias 2001) such as biculturalism, bilingualism, and
trans-local solidarity (such as reinforcement of national identity in the exterior). Thus,
cultural outcomes in the context of reception have been treated as a continuum with
transnationalism as one of the possible outcomes along with the smooth acculturation,
assimilation, and incorporation of historic assimilation theory and its contemporary
segmented reconceptualization.
Application of Models of Assimilation to Diasporic International Adoptions
Models of acculturation, assimilation, and incorporation have routinely been applied to
the major historic and sizeable movements of populations to the United States such as
Mexicans (Massey et al. 1994; Massey et al. 1987; Espenshade 1999; Sanchez 1993),
East Asians (Tse 2000; Zhou & Bankston 1998) and Turks to Germany (Faist 2000).
However, I wish to test the theory that international adoptions represent diasporas that,
while clearly unique forms of immigration, may be conceived of in the terms of other
17
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international migrations (Hübinette 2002; Williams 2002; and principally Miller-Loessi
& Kilic 2002).
I would begin by referring to the diagram below of the “three stages of
international migration and transnationalization” constructed by Faist (2000). This
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0000000c0000000e00008052000000700100000100000038ffffff0000000000000000000000009001000000
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0000000000000000000000000000006234093000000000040000000000ae309f3409300000000053169001
001002020603050405020304877a0020000000800800000000000000ff01000000000000540069006d0065
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cc300000000004481200f2b40230044812004c6eaf301c4812006476000800000000250000000c000000010
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00000fb02f2ff0000000000009001000000000440001254696d6573204e657720526f6d616e000000000000
0000000000000000000000040000002d0101000400000002010100050000000902000000020d000000320a
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Figure 2 - Based Upon Faist (2002) Stylized stages of melting into the core, pluralization and three
forms of transnational social spaces p 259.
diagram is useful in visualizing how the three major approaches to immigrant
incorporation may be applied. By simply exchanging his term of “pluralization” with
segmented assimilation, “transnational circuits” with transnationalism, and “melting into
the core” with straight line or smooth assimilation, we see that all three historic and
contemporary explanations may be applied simultaneously. Moreover, by inclusion of a
third stage of “transnational communities,” Faist draws our attention to the globalizing
processes that may potentially influence immigrant incorporation.
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Beginning with stage one, we see that immigration involves a migration or flight
from a homeland. In the case of international adoptions from China, Miller-Loessi &
Kilic (2002) have made the claim that there are various push factors resulting in a
“relatively large scale” flow of individuals (98% of whom are female) from the PRC.
These factors are namely the “sheer numbers of people” in China (causing considerable
strain on resources as China undergoes its own globalizing processes), the one-child
policy implemented to “restrain huge population growth rates,” and the patriarchal
culture that preferences male heirs and results in a sizeable (as many as a million)
orphaned population of female children (5-6).
According to Faist (2000) movement to the later part of stage one, “transnational
reciprocity,” is usually by means of transnational kinship networks and other social ties.
He does point out that in the case of refugees there is often “an abrupt severing of
transnational ties” to the homeland. Many international adoptions have been observed to
follow the latter pattern (Hübinette 2002; Williams 2002). Williams (2002) explains that
in the case of Vietnam international adoptees were in fact refugees: “In a humanitarian
military exercise known as Operation Babylift, thousands of orphans were evacuated
from Vietnam just before the ‘fall’ of Saigon as babies and then dispersed across
America, Australia, Canada and Europe” (1). In most cases, the only path to
incorporation was that of assimilation or melting into the core (Faist): “Unlike other
Vietnamese migrant youth, adoptees did not have much contact with Vietnamese or
Asian mentors and authority figures such as parents, grandparents and a sense of being
part of the Vietnamese migrant community” (Williams 2002). Similarly, Hübinette
(2002) notes that the 150,000 Korean adoptees dispersed world wide since the Korean
War found the only path was that of assimilation and that the only social support came in
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the form of assuring the “adoptees’ adjustment to the adopting family and assimilation to
the host culture” (4). Compared to these child diasporas, that of Chinese adopted
daughters is quite unique. Due to the intentional construction of transnational reciprocity
(through the framing of the adoption as a “gift”) and the maintenance of both real and
symbolic cultural ties to China within a deliberate community that reinforces a global
ethnic identity, the options of a pluralized identities or the hybridities of transnationalism
are possible (Miller-Loessi & Kilic 2002; 8-11).
Similar movements have been noted among adult Korean and Vietnamese
adoptees as they struggle to regain a sense of their cultural heritage.
20
“The movement of
adopted Koreans is now trying to create an ethnic identity of its own in the third space
between their birth country’s dream of a global ethnic Korean community where the
adopted Koreans are automatically perceived as Korean brethren” (Hübinette 2002; 7).
Similarly, Williams (2002) notes that adult Vietnamese adoptees formed online networks
through egroups, message boards, instant messages and chat rooms that have resulted in
“virtual communities that encourages solidarity, collectivity and association” (6).
Thus, we see that even when the initial incorporation of the immigrant community stage
two is limited to melting into the core, transnational communities may still arise as a
result of the universal search for the particular (Robertson 1992). Identities may be
renegotiated at any point and in any generation (see Waters 1994). The uniqueness of the
Chinese diaspora in terms of its gendered nature, but more so in its deliberate
construction of transnational fields (Faist) and hybridized cultural identities will be an
important referent for future theories of immigrant incorporation. As Miller-Loessi &
20 A clear relation exists here with the advocacy networks of Keck and Sikkink (1998) and the INGOs of
Boli & Thomas (1999) as organizations like Korea G.O.A.L. (Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link) have act ona worldwide scale drawing attention to the issues of international adoptions.
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
Kilic predict, “it is very possible that a strong ethnic group
consciousness sustained over a long time and based on a sense of
distinctiveness, a common history, and a belief in common fate will
form….both their ethnicity and their gender will bind them together in
some form of shared consciousness” (20).
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Defining Culture and Social Structure
Culture and social structure are concepts rife with different meanings and associated controversies. How
do you think it is most useful to define and use these concepts? Does it depend on the context? If so, give
examples.
Culture is like the sum of special knowledge that accumulates in any large united family and is the common property of all its members. When we of the great CultureFamily meet, we exchange reminiscences about Grandfather Homer, and that awful old Dr. Johnson, and Aunt Sappho, and poor Johnny Keats.
- Aldous Huxley 21
Throughout the previous two essays, the concept of culture has been central. While I
teach my Introduction to Sociology students that culture is the material and non-material
products of a human group or society passed from generation to generation through
shared interactions and experiences ,22 the various usages of the term culture in the global
literature find my characterization deficient. Usages I have recorded include:
Ethnic culture, cultural identity, resilient culture, world culture, culture of
consumption, hegemonic culture, cultural imperialism, cultural contact,cultural solidarity, cross-cultural linkages and practices, deculturation,
cosmopolitan culture, cultural milieu, cultural hybridity, synthetic culture,
authentic culture, exogenous culture, dimensions of culture, acculturation,cultural diasporization, ethnocultural identity, postmodern culture, cultural
capital, consequences of culture, cultural differentiation, etc….
The problematique regarding a definition of culture that encapsulates all of its
distinct usages has long been discussed. For example, “In Culture: A Critical Review of
Concepts and Definitions (1952), U.S. anthropologists A.L. Kroeber and Clyde
Kluckhohn cited 164 definitions of culture, ranging from “learned behaviour” to “ideas in
the mind,” “a logical construct,” “a statistical fiction,” “a psychic defense mechanism,”
21 http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/quotations-on-culture/quotations-on-
culture.html#Aldous%20Huxley 22 From Macionis (2002) and Popenoe (2000).
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
and so on” (Encyclopædia Britannica).23 Kroeber and Kluckhohn settle on a definition
that Miller-Loessi and Parker (2003) refer to as “so all-inclusive that it seems to us less
useful” (3). Britannica points out that a resolution may rest in the 1959 essay by Leslie A.
White entitled “The Concept of Culture” where he leaves the specific definition up to the
particular level of analysis and “context of the scientific interpretation.” This would be,
however, a definition of last resort. In this essay, then, I will incorporate the conceptions
of culture as a product of a historical process, linking it to the concepts contained within
the global literature, and delineating culture from actors, values, and social structure.
Throughout the literature we have seen culture as a product of a historical
process. This process creates the product of sameness within a cultural (or ethnic) group.
Hence, shared experiences and a shared milieu (historically limited in time-space)
creating a constancy of values and viewpoints that can be measured empirically in
anthropological observations and social-psychological tests (see for example Schwartz
1992; The Chinese Cultural Connection 1987; and Hofstede1980). Hofstede (1980) in
particular, defines culture as “collective programming of the mind…describing entire
societies” (13). Cultures, he says, are “rooted in value systems of major groups of the
population” and have become “stabilized over long periods of history” (13). In this
definition he distinguishes between cultures and values indicating that culture result from
shared values.
This historical view tends to neglect, however, the destabilizing forces of
globalization that are perhaps more apparent in other texts. Agadjanian and Qian (1997),
for example, found that while there were marked differences in the incidence of abortion
(a cultural practice) among ethnic Kazak and Russian women in Kazakhstan, an
23 Also discussed in Miller-Loessi and Parker (2003).
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acculturation process was occurring that perhaps blurred the lines between the
ethnocultural groups. Their evidence indicated that Kazak women who were more
“Russified” (i.e. were interviewed in Russian and by proxy have become culturally more
like Russian women) had become acculturated beyond the simple use of language to a
more basic cultural practice of family planning by induced abortion at levels that were
more like those of ethnic Russian women.
Thus, a modern definition of culture must recognize the ongoing globalization
processes, but must determine whether that processes is essentially one creating products
of greater cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity. The neorealist view sees the forces of
world culture, through the increased presence and participation of INGOs, as creating
greater isomorphism among global actors (Meyer et al. 1997; Boli & Thomas 1999). On
the other hand, Appadurai (1990) sees culture that is imagined, negotiated, co-opted and
composed of flexible, overlapping and unbounded dimensions that create more
disjuncture and less isomorphism. This contradiction of cultural processes is address by
Barber (1996) who views the cultural outcomes of globalism and tribalism (universalism
and particularism of Robertson 1992) as two aspects of the same process. Likewise
Anthias (2001) see transnationalism and globalization as creating hybrid cultures that
exemplify “the increasing synthesis of cultural elements between minority and majority
‘cultures’” (619) while also creating diasporas of local culture (an idea she attributes to
Hall 1990). Therefore we have three or more simultaneous products of the globalization
of culture resulting in instances of greater sameness, greater difference, and new
amalgamations of old cultural formations.
Before drawing these assorted threads together into one germane definition, the
distinction between culture and social structure must be made. Miller-Loessi and Parker
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
(2003) draw upon House (1981) to explain this differentiation:
Social structure is defined by House (1981:542) as “a persisting and bounded pattern of social relationships (or pattern of behavioral
interaction) among the units (that is, persons or positions) in a social
system.” Culture may be both a cause and consequence of symbols, behavior, and physical artifacts, just as culture and social structure may
reciprocally interact. (Miller-Loessi & Parker 2003; 3-4)
A similar argument is presented by Rohner (1984) in Smith and Bond (1998) Social
Psychology Across Cultures. They explain that Rohner defines social system as “the
behaviour of multiple individuals within a culturally-organized population, including
their patterns of social interactions and networks of social relationships” (39). Moreover,
Rohner explains that a society is largest collective unit “organized around a common
culture and a common social system” (40). Thus, in our most universal definition of
culture we may recognize that social structure is the pattern of relations that governs the
interactions of global actors within the world society. Global society then is the habitus in
which the ongoing processes of culture create the various, paradoxical products of global
culture whereas a global social structure provides the rules by which global actors much
engage one another.
Toward a Universal Definition of Culture
A definition of culture that would be relevant in today’s global environment and yet
applicable at all levels of analysis would surprisingly be very similar to that I give my
Introduction to Sociology students. I would begin with a definition that sees culture
simply as the products of people who interact with one another. Thus, they are social
objects in the sense of Mead and other Symbolic Interactionists. I would add, however,
the caveat that these social products are situated . I locate culture within a social structure
and associate it using reciprocal ties to the actors who create culture, the values that guide
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those actors and are in turn influenced by extant historical cultural trends. I also
acknowledge the paradoxical globalizing and localizing forces that influence social
structures, actors, values, and cultures alike (See Fig. 2). In this way, we may see
applications of this definition of culture at any level. For example, one may have a home
culture made up of historical family traditions and values learned in interactions with
parents, yet influenced by other exogenous entities (media, school, church, etc.).
Likewise the actors within the world polity (social structure), influenced by the values of
democracy (a homogenizing force) and principals of individualism that acknowledge
diversity (and thus particularism) as well as external globalizing forces such as
capitalism, technological change, etc., produce a culture (shared discourses, experiences,
and even commercial goods) that, in turn, further influences the values and very global
actors themselves.
Figure 2 - The Relation of Culture, Values, & Actors within a Social Structure
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Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration
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